Pointe au Baril Town Dock

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's)

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 109 - July 18, 2017

We left Port Rawson Bay about 9:30 a.m. headed for Snug Haven, but when we got there it was too early to stop, so we decided to go on to the Pointe au Baril Town Dock. This turned out to be an excellent choice!

It was a long cruising day, about seven hours, and although we were in the inside Small Boat Channel, it was mostly broad expanses of fairly open water, without too much scenery! So there is not too much to say about the day's cruising!

Daydream at Pointe au Baril Town Dock
with kayak moved to bow for sunshine on solar panels!

Pointe au Baril Town Dock Office and public washrooms

Our resources had outdated information on the Pointe au Baril Town Dock. Skipper Bob said there were two floating docks at the Town Dock. The last Active Captain review was from 2014. and although it was mostly correct, it stated that overnight docking at the Town Dock was free but there was a 25 foot length limit. In fact, there are now four floating docks, and they are free for day use but there is a (very reasonable) $0.55 per foot overnight docking fee. The floating docks are in excellent condition. 

I added an updated Active Captain review with this information, and supplemented with information from the young ladies who seem to manage the Town Dock. There is a "semi-official" 30 foot length limit, but they may allow longer boats. Definitely no large yachts. The Town Dock Office is in a faux lighthouse which also has public washrooms that are open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. And trash disposal!

When you cruise and mostly anchor out like we do, it does not take too long for the trash can to get full up to the top no matter how vigorously you manually compact it! The national and provincial parks do not provide any trash cans. We were kind of at our limit on trash, and were hoping we would be able to dispose of our trash for a fee. It turns out there is a transfer station near the store, but even better, between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., there is a trash wagon pulled by a small tractor where you can deposit your trash at no charge.

The only thing that kept me from giving the Pointe au Baril Town Dock a five star rating was the lack of power and water, but overall, this is a great find, a hidden jewel off the main Small Boat Channel!

Home Hardware and CCY General Store

The Town Dock is a very busy place!  It is right below the Home Hardware and CCY General Store, which appears to be the center of social life in the town! 

This store indeed has just about everything a cottager or boater could really ever need! Groceries, meat, sundries and of course paint, plumbing supplies, electrical supplies, lumber and hardware! While we were there, cottagers would pull up in small boats, go into the store, and come back down with boxes in the dock carts. This was a constant parade! We naturally had to go up and spend a bunch of money on essentials ourselves like jars of candied nuts, more Johnsonville Brats, and a lot more! It is funny how the bill adds up when you are not shopping from a list but just putting whatever you want into the shopping basket! One thing we wanted was tortillas, but evidently if you want tortillas in Pointe au Baril, you have to make them yourself!

There is an LCBO liquor store, a gas station with a deli, and a restaurant that reputedly has awesome fish and chips about a five minute walk away up on the main road. although we did not visit any of these. All in all, Pointe au Baril Town Dock was a great stop that fit our needs to a tee!